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Justice: Progress in Fast and Furious negotiations

Tuesday - 1/29/2013, 1:42pm EST

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department reports progress in settlement talks over a lawsuit by a House committee to get records involving the bungled gun-tracking program known as Operation Fast and Furious.

In a filing Tuesday, the department proposed postponing next week's court hearing because of the progress in talks with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The department said committee lawyers agreed.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson rescheduled the hearing to April 24.

The Justice Department said that the parties in the case believe that "further talks may be fruitful."

Next week's hearing was on the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Fast and Furious was a Phoenix-based operation designed to track purchases by suspected low-level buyers on behalf of gun-smuggling kingpins, but agents lost track of about 1,400 guns.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)